Valparaiso’s women’s swim team sits in sixth place after the opening day of the Coers Invitational held on Friday evening at the Lewellan Aquatic Center in Muncie, Ind.

The Crusaders scored 41 points on day one, trailing fifth place Lewis by just two points.  Host Ball State leads the meet with 205 points, followed by Marshall (171), Grand Valley State (131), and Findlay (64).

Valpo opened the meet with a sixth place finish in the 200 freestyle relay.  The team of Ali Taubert (Bloomington, Ill./University H.S.), Brittany Bencur (Dyer, Ind./Lake Central H.S.), Lauren Knop (Geneva, Ill./Geneva H.S.), and Natalie Jarrett (Lebanon, Ind./Western Boone H.S.) posted a time of 1:46.24, the best mark of the year for the school.

Jarrett earned an eighth place finish individually in the 200 individual medley for the Crusaders with a time of 2:14.86, a season’s best.

Flavia Segatto (Pembroke Pines, Fla./Charleow Flanigan H.S.) led the way for the Brown and Gold in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:22.27, placing 13^th overall.  Taubert added a top-20 finish in the event as well with a season’s best mark of 5:29.20 to finish 19^th while Alex Caruthers (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard H.S.) finished fifth with a time of 5:32.39.

Knop paced Valpo in the 50 free with a team-best time of 26.51 seconds.

The Crusaders finished the day with a sixth place mark in the 400 medley relay.  Knop, Jarrett, Segatto, and Taubert turned in a time of 4:13.71.

Valparaiso will return to the water on Saturday for the final day of competition.  Events begin at 8 a.m. CST in Muncie.